Thursday, June 25, 2009

Download my Desktop Wallpaper! One of my favorite blogs, Kitsune Noir, which is based out of Los Angeles, has a great little project where each week a different artist creates a wallpaper for the site, which you can download and enjoy for free. Past artists have included some of my personal faves - Merijn Hos, Andy Rementer, & Mike Perry among them. I created some Hong Kong-inspired illos for this week's selection. Hope you like!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Pecha Kucha Night is back! Vol. 5 is on this Wednesday, June 17, 8PM at The Rotunda, One Exchange Square, Central.

I was able to participate and share my work for Vol. 4 back in February (and found a little pic from last time in today's South China Morning Post!); this time around, past participant & brand consultant Oriana Reich is the curator, and she's got a great line-up of local talent including Fashion & Apparel designer Kim Van Gennip & Arnault Castel of local hotspot-for-all-things-cool Kapok.

Hope you can go check it out - should be a fantastic night!

It's always great to have some insight into the minds/concepts/inspirations of fellow artists and designers - especially those who can represent Hong Kong's burgeoning creative scene!

I will have a few pieces featured in this show, opening on Friday, June 19 at Philia Lounge in Central. Stop by & check it out if you're in the area!

SOMETHING TO SAY is an exhibition of paintings, drawings, and collages from five different artists living and working in Hong Kong. The show explores the messages we see on the shirts passing by around us, the characters that wear them, the meanings we feel, and the humor and understanding that results from these fleeting glimpses as we all disappear into the bustling streets of our city. Artists featured include Sequential Artist Gabe Ostley, Painter & Performing Artist Haruka Ashida Ostley, Illustrator Emily Eldridge, Painter & Fibers Artist Ashley Terpstra, and Painter & Muralist Wesley Terpstra.

Just a nice bit of press from WGSN - one of the world's top fashion & style forecasters! This month's Visual Merchandising News has a little feature about the World of Wonders display at Lane Crawford.

MobArt Gallery is pleased to present Lost Things, an installation of plywood and cardboard paintings by Hong Kong-based American urban artist, Emily Eldridge. Showcasing her whole new body of works in Wanchai’s chillaxing hotspot Epoch Desserterie, the exhibition will be a narration of the artist’s childhood memories and nostalgic moments inspired by the bits and pieces of everyday life in her new home, Hong Kong.

Lost souls, lost teeth, lost dog, long-lost lover, lost-and-found; I’ve always been the type to be wrenched apart at the idea or fact of losing something. Two occasions from childhood strike me most: my mom likes to embarrass me with a story from 2nd Grade in which I had lost a tooth at school (which I was accustomed to keeping for sentimental reasons after its natural procurement from my mouth) and then lost it, only to cry for hours and hours to not be able find it on the floor of my classroom, it being gone forever. The other event (which still gives me pangs of guilt) takes me back to a school locker room in 4th or 5th Grade, post-girls’ basketball game, packing my gym clothes back into my bag, only to realize I had completely misplaced my mom’s childhood necklace, which she had lent me to wear earlier in the day. I had taken it off for the game, and in between it had disappeared into the folds of my bag or into the cracks in the wooden floor or fallen down a heating grate or elsewhere. I never found it, and still feel shame for such a lovely memento to have vanished!

Maybe it’s this sentimentality that drives me in my art, that leads me to create, and points to the body of work I intend to make. I question, “Can we resurrect a loss?” “Can we create something remarkable out of the discarded?” “In losing something, do we find ourselves?” I am sentimental for the past, sentimental for memories I can’t recapture, sentimental for that which has been left behind, and sentimental for a city and time in my life that’s vanishing day by day.

In Lost Things, I will give my attention to the discarded, the lost, and the overlooked. I intend to create a series of paintings, sculptures, and installations that react to and interact with forgotten Hong Kong, and that reflect my experiences here. I will find cardboard boxes, wood scraps, cracked windshields, and other salvaged bits of history to paint upon. I will utilize discarded objects from areas around the city; and through these, create remarkable items through painting, illustration, and drawing; and through figurative art and observational depictions of overlooked everyday items. My memories coincide with these misplaced things; together we have a very personal connection. That which appears worthless is again given value and purpose; resurrected, given a second chance. My work is hopeful; I am encouraging viewers to pay attention to their surroundings, to the things they value in their lives. If cardboard can be beautiful and made into something valuable, how do we perceive the rest of our surroundings? What is of value in our relationships with people, or in our everyday lives? This metaphor not only reflects me personally, but also is a very human characteristic that I feel is symbolic for us all. Can art help to show us what’s missing within?

I truly like the idea of utilizing the materials I find around me to incorporate within my work. I’m fairly adept at finding objects and making it work; whether it’s lack of budget or lack of materials or just using what’s most attainable around me, I’m certainly no snob when it comes to my “canvas”. This could include: locally-made household goods, hardware supplies, found and salvaged objects, wood or metal scraps, doors, walls, sidewalks, buildings, etc. In these troubling financial times, and certainly with the ever-present concern for our environment, this method of art making is more relevant than ever.

For price inquiries or more information on the artist, please feel free to contact Anne Cheung at 96880647 or anne@mobartgallery.com.

About MobArtMobArt is an art gallery with a twist. Unlike the traditional art galleries, we don’t have a physical space, we are mobile. We “pop up” every where in the city and may one day appear just round the corner of where you live or work.

Our Concept is simple – we utilize urban spaces like restaurants, coffee shops, lounges etc. to curate Art shows, and these exhibitions will only last for 3 to 6 months.

Our Goal is clear – to make Hong Kong a better place for Art. Elevating people’s interest and appreciation for Art by making Art an integral part of our everyday life would in turn foster an environment that supports and nurtures young, talented local artists.